Spike.



H. NORRIS.

SPIKE.

APPLICATION FILED mm: 26. 1913.

1,1 1 1,720, Patented Sept. .22, 1914.

WITNESSES. INVENT'QR.

' UNITED, sra r ls iurnmr OFFICE- Baum-NORRIS, on PITTSBURGH,rsNnsYLvAn'm, assmuon or onanarrro 'wrLLnw m. Rae's or rrrrrssondn,PENNSYLVANIA.

SPIKE."

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HALLIE Noanis, a citizenof. the United States, resident of Pittsburgh. in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Spikes; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to improvements in railway spikes and the objectthereof is to provide a spike of: this character with means such asrecesses in its side walls to aid in the holding of the spike firmlywithin the wood of the tie.

The invention will be best understood from the following descriptiontaken in con: junction with the accompanying drawings in a whichvention'Fi 2 is a lon 'tudinal sectional view on the line 2-2 Fig. 1; Fig. 3 isa transverse sectional view onthe line 3-3 Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 2 showing a modification of the invention; Fig. 5 is afront elevation of a spike showing another modification; and F ig. 6 isa transverse sectional view on the line 6-6 Fig. 5.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and?) the railway spike is shown to be ofordinary construction having shank 1, the pointed entering end 2 and thehead 3, the latter having the railway flange engaging projection 4 andthe claw bar receiving projections 5-5 at either side. Such spikes asordinarily con structed are held within the wood of the tie merely bythe frictional engagement of the sides of the shank with the fibers ofthe wood. In order to increase the holding effect however, I provide theside walls of the shank as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 with recesses 6 and7 which in the form of the invention here shown extend for aconsiderable length throughout the length of the shank. These recesseshave more or less abrupt side walls. It will be noticed that the taperedpoint 2 of the spike forms a cutting edge extending transversely or atright angles to the direction of the wood fibers of the tie when thespike is driven home, so that the severed ends ofthe fibers bear againstthe front and rear walls of the shank of the spike, and as is well knownare deflected Specification o'fLettel-s Patent. Patent d S t 22 1 14Application filed June 26.1913. Serial No. 775.993. I

fiber ends. The fibers 'ad' grcepraie gme walls of the spike are moreorless" compressed or pressed apart by the entrance of the sp1ke shankand add their frietionaleffeet to the holding of the spike.: Itiswellknown in practice however; that" spikes when thus held frictionallyonlyfgradually work loose and withdrawn ore or less from the tie andloosen their hold upon "the rail flange. To overcome this "tendency, Iprovide the side Walls of the s ike shank with recesses such as 6 and 7w "icl'i are preferably oblong in. shapehaving their greatest lengthlongitudinally of the shank. spike enters the wood the unsevered woodfibers adjacent each of these side walls bulge into these recesses. Alsosome of the severed fiber ends project into these recesses so that whenthe spike is driven home these fibers which have entered therecesses adda powerful holding effect-against the withdrawal of the spike,butinaddition to this increased holdingefi'ect' due to the bulging in ofthe wood fibers the sweeping through the recesses of thesefibers as'thespike is driven home tends to displace the air in said recesses, so thatas the upper end of the recess sinks beneath the surface of the wood, aconsiderable vacuum is produced in the recess due to the necessarywithdrawal or forcing out of the fibers as they reach and pass over theupper ends of the recesses. This vacuum therefore produces a suctioneffect which not only tends to hold the spike down within the wood, butalso draws the adjacent fibers more strongly into the recesses, thusadding to the tendency of the fibers to enter the recesses due to theirown resilience. As shown in the drawings, the recesses 6 and 7 are insomewhat staggered relation, so that the portion of the surface 8 of thespike side wall opposite theylower end of the recess 7 and the portionof the surface 9 opposite the upper end of the recess 6 form in effectabutment surfaces to hold the spike steady and to maintain the requisitepressure to cause the fibers on the opposite side of the spike to enterfully into the recess at that side.

In Fig. 4 the recesses 6', 7', instead of being formed in the side"walls of the spike As the.

both at its sides and shank are formed in the front'and rear wallsthereof, or in the sides parallel to the cutting edge of the tapered end2 of the spike.

In this construction the 'increased holding eflt'ect is produced by thefact that the severed ends of the wood fibers spring into these recessesand form a more or less positive lock to hold the, spike within thewood.

I This arrangement of the recesses, however,

tically impossible to withdraw the spike from the wood and shouldsufficient power be applied to withdraw it, the fibers of the wood are.so disrupted that the tie is rendered practically useless.

In the form of the invention illustrated in Figs. 5' and 6 the-s ikeshank is provided ront and rear with the recesses 6, 7 and 6', 7respectively, whereby the holding effect of the ordinary spike isincreased by the sum of the holding efli'ects above described of theseveral recesses.

While I have herein described particular embodiments of the invention,it is to be understood that. the same may be altered in details and inthe relative arrangement of parts within the scope of the appendedclaim.

What I claim is: 1

A spike opposite walls of which have longitudinal recesses thereinarranged in staggered relation, tion of the side wall opposite the endof each recess forms an abutment to steady the spike within the wood andto oppose the pressure of the wood fibers projecting into the recess atthe opposite side wall.

In testimony whereof, I the said HALLIE Nonms have hereunto set my hand.

HALLIE NORRIS.

Witnesses:

J. GARFIELD HOUSTON,

ROBERT C. TOTTEN.

whereby the unrecessed por-

